The Dynamics of ThoughtThis book is a selection from the articles that I have written over a period of more than twenty years. Since the focus of my research interests has shifted several times during this period, it would be difficult to identify a common theme for all the papers in the volume. Following the Swedish tradition, I therefore present this as a smörgåsbord of philosophical and cognitive issues that I have worked on. To create some order, I have organized the sixteen papers into five general sections: (1) Decision theory; (2) belief revision and nonmonotonic logic; (3) induction; (4) semantics and pragmatics; and (5) cognition and evolution. Having said this, I still think that there is a common theme to my work over the years: The dynamics of thought. My academic interests have all the time dealt with aspects of how different kinds of knowledge should be represented, and, in particular, how changes in knowledge will affect thinking. Hence the title of the book. |
Contents
Probabilistic reasoning and evidentiary value | 1 |
Unreliable probabilities risk taking and decision making | 11 |
Rights games and social choice | 31 |
The dynamics of belief systems Foundations vs coherence theories | 47 |
The role of expectations in reasoning | 67 |
How logic emerges from the dynamics of information | 83 |
Induction conceptual spaces and AI | 109 |
Three levels of inductive inference | 125 |
The social stance | 173 |
The emergence of meaning | 179 |
Does semantics need reality? | 201 |
The nature of mangames that genes play? | 215 |
The detachment of thought | 227 |
Cognitive science From computers to anthills as models of human thought | 243 |
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| 277 | |
Frameworks for properties Possible worlds vs conceptual spaces | 145 |
The pragmatic role of modality in natural language | 161 |
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Common terms and phrases
analysis animal argue argument assumed assumption Bayesian behavior belief revision belief set brain chapter cognitive science cognitive semantics cognitivist color conceptual space condition connected connectionism connectionist connectionist systems consequences construction corresponding criterion decision situation decision theory defined definition denoted described detached representations determined dynamic epistemic entrenchment epistemic reliability evidentiary mechanism example expected utility expressions finite Fodor function game of rights Gärdenfors genes given human individual inductive inferences inductive reasoning inner world input interpretation justifications linguistic logical Makinson mapping mental modal verbs ms(a natural kind natural property neural network neurons nodes notion paradigm Pareto principle perspective possible worlds postulates power structure predicates presented probability distributions probability measures problem processes propositions quality dimensions reason reference relation representing rights exercising rights-system schemata sense sentences Smolensky social choice social meaning sociobiology speaker strategy subconceptual subsymbolic survival machines symbolic traditional vector